| Viru Keemia Grupp | |
| Foundation: | 1924 |
| Hq Location: | Kohtla-Järve, Ida-Virumaa |
| Key People: | Ahti Asmann (CEO)[1] |
| Industry: | Oil shale industry Power generation |
| Products: | 680,000 tons of shale oil, 900 GWh energy production (2023) |
| Num Employees: | 1500 (2024) |
Viru Keemia Grupp is a private Estonian large-scale industrial enterprise. It focuses on oil shale mining, shale oil, combined heat and power production and production and marketing of fine chemical products.
Viru Keemia Grupp is located in Kohtla-Järve and continues the Estonian oil shale valorisation tradition that started in 1924. The company is based on private capital since 1997 when AS Kiviter was privatised. [1]
Estonia’s oil shale industry is a traditional Estonian industry, founded during the First Republic. Local oil shale industry provided heat and light to Estonian households starting from 1924, and supplied household gas to Leningrad and Tallinn as well as other Northern Estonian towns. The list of products made in Kohtla-Järve through decades is rich and varied – from shale oil to fine chemicals, epoxy resins to nitrogen fertilisers, hair dye components to bitumens.
Viru Keemia Grupp’s main fields of activity are oil shale mining, shale oil, combined heat and electricity production and the production and marketing of fine chemistry products.
Viru Keemia Grupp’s main product is shale oil which is obtained from reprocessing oil shale. Thanks to its low sulphur content, lower viscosity and low pour point, shale oil is mainly used for improving the qualities of heavy fuel oil, including as a marine fuel additive, as raw material for the chemical industry, and for heating boilers and industrial furnaces. Although the majority of the product is exported, shale oil is used in Estonia in driers, asphalt factories and industrial and small boilers.
In 2023, the Group processed 4.8 million tons of oil shale, from which 669,000 tons of shale oil products and 900 GWh of energy were produced. The Group is the second largest electricity producer in Estonia.
The company’s subsidiaries and related companies are VKG Oil, VKG Kaevandused, VKG Logistika, VKG Energia, and VKG Invest which is mainly engaged in real estate investments. In 2021, the group purchased the Tallinn and Riga Stockmann department stores, which were later removed from VKG’s portfolio. For the development of various R&D projects, several companies like VKG Fiber, VKG Plastic, VKG Solar, and VKG Wind have been established.
In 2021, the group announced its intention to start exploring possibilities of developing a bioproducts production complex in the rural municipality of Lüganuse in Ida-Viru County. The group plans to start valorising pulpwood or low-quality wood which is currently being exported to Scandinavia or used for energy production. The products of the bioproducts production complex include cellulose, dissolving pulp, tall oil, and green energy. The complex would produce 0.9 TWh of energy in a stable mode, which is nearly 7% of Estonia’s annual electricity consumption (based on data from 2023). Depending on the types of products and raw materials, the production complex would need 2.0 to 2.3 million m³ of wood a year, a third of which would be chips left over from sawmills and up to a fourth of which the developer plans to buy outside Estonia. Since August 2021, a local government designated spatial plan for the project is being prepared, to be completed by the end of 2024. The production complex would contribute to the employment level in the region by opening 250 new direct jobs and up to 1,000 indirect jobs. The expected time of completion of the complex is the end of 2027 or the beginning of 2028. The investment into the development project is nearly 1 billion euros.
VKG is also planning to establish a plastic waste chemical recycling plant Kohtla-Järve. The plant would pre-sort and pre-process plastic waste and then produce high-quality pyrolysis oil which can be used for producing new plastic in petrochemical factories. This solution would ensure the recycling of various types of plastic. Today, Estonia is able to mechanically recycle only a small part of plastic waste and even so only with very clean plastics of specific type. The planned plant would be able to process slightly dirty plastic and composite plastic into raw material for new plastic. The planned capacity of the plant is up to 20,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year. For comparison: Estonia currently generates approximately 100,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year, most of which is burned at the Iru Power Plant. VKG’s plant would help Estonia increase the plastic waste recycling targets from the current 25% to 55% by 2030. The development project is expected to be completed in 2026 and the investment amounts to 110 million euros.